This invention relates to an ink dot printer which comprises at least one needle capable of being displaced between a normal position remote from a recorded medium and a projected position close to the recorded medium, and drive means for moving the needle between the normal position and projected position and in which ink is supplied to and attached on the tip of the needle which faces the recording means when the needle is at the normal position. The ink is forcibly removed from the tip of the needle toward the recorded medium to form an ink dot on the recorded medium when the needle is at the projected position, an aggregate of such ink dots serving to form a character or a figure on the recorded medium.
The usual ink dot printer of the type described above is provided with ink film forming means serving as ink supply means. The ink film forming means comprises a pair of magnetic plates extending parallel to each other and forming a vertical slit therebetween, an ink tank containing magnetic ink in which the lower ends of the paired magnetic plates are immersed, and exciting means for exciting the pair of magnetic plates to let the magnetic ink be withdrawn from the ink tank along the slit so as to form a magnetic ink film in the slit.
In this arrangement, the tip of the needle is placed in the slit when the needle is in the normal position, and magnetic ink from the magnetic ink film in the slit is attached to the tip of the needle.
In an ink dot printer of this type, the needle is moved from the normal position to the projected position to cause the tip of the needle to strike a recording sheet serving as a recorded medium and lying on a platen, thereby forming an ink dot on the recording sheet. The striking of the recording sheet by the needle, however, produces a tremendous amount of noise.